A Maltese mother who adopted two children from Ethiopia six years ago has opened up about her racism concerns, warning the situation has noticeably aggravated.

“I didn’t think I’d reach a stage where I’d be worried but yes, I’m worried now because the level of racism has reached intolerable levels,” Maria Borg Vella told TVM. “When you’re walking through the streets and you hear a parent encouraging his son to throw a bottle cap at your children, that’s when you know we’ve truly hit rock bottom”

She said that, while she understands the frustration among the Maltese at the lack of solidarity shown by the EU to Malta with regards the irregular migration situation, she said this is no excuse to be cruel to dark-skinned people.

She warned her children, Craig and Victoria, don’t feel accepted in society and that racist comments, uttered both face-to-face and online, will have nasty consequences on dark-skinned Maltese people.

“What’s the point of getting angry behind a screen and a keyboard?” she asked. “We are a country of migrants and we should remember how we used to emigrate when there was no work to be found here. Now that others have ended up in that situation, perhaps we should empathise with them and not be cruel to them.”